Author: chicagoinquirer

by Seung Min Kim WASHINGTON  — President Donald Trump will gather with House Republicans on Tuesday to ensure they’re aligned on their agenda at the start of a critical midterm election year that could alter the course of Trump’s final two years in office. GOP lawmakers are hosting a daylong policy forum at the Kennedy Center, the performing arts venue on the other side of Washington from the Capitol. Its board, which is stacked with Trump loyalists, recently voted to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center, though that move is being challenged in court. The House GOP is convening as they…

by Michael R. Sisak, Larry Nuemeister and Erick Tucker NEW YORK  — A defiant Nicolás Maduro declared himself “the president of my country” as he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty Monday to federal drug trafficking charges that the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power in Venezuela. “I was captured,” Maduro said in Spanish as translated by a courtroom interpreter before being cut off by the judge. Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated: “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.” Maduro’s…

by Mathew Lee WASHINGTON  — The Trump administration has added seven countries, including five in Africa, to the list of nations whose passport holders are required to post bonds of up to $15,000 to apply to enter the United States. Thirteen countries, all but two of them in Africa, are now on the list, which makes the process of obtaining a U.S. visa unaffordable for many. The State Department last week quietly added Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia and Turkmenistan to the list. Those designations took effect on Jan. 1, according to a notice posted on…

by Jay Cohen CHICAGO (AP) — Miles Bridges had 26 points and 14 rebounds, helping the Charlotte Hornets beat the Chicago Bulls 112-99 on Saturday night. Brandon Miller scored 22 points for Charlotte, and Kon Knueppel finished with 18. LaMelo Ball added 17 points and seven assists. The Hornets had lost three straight and five of seven. They improved to 5-2 on the second day of back-to-back games. Nikola Vucevic had 28 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for Chicago, which had won two in a row and seven of nine overall. Matas Buzelis scored 17 points. The Bulls closed…

by Rob Maaddi The road to the Super Bowl in the NFC goes through Seattle. The NFC South champion will be decided by the two teams that aren’t in the race for the division title. The Seahawks secured the No. 1 seed and won the NFC West with a 13-3 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday night in a showdown that had major ramifications. The 49ers could have won the division but instead will be the NFC’s No. 5 or 6 seed. Earlier Saturday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Carolina Panthers 16-14 to stay alive in the…

by Josh Funk Embattled Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan, who was convicted of obstruction last month for helping an immigrant evade federal officers, has sent her resignation letter to the governor. The letter was sent Saturday. Republicans had been making plans to impeach her ever since her Dec. 19 conviction. A spokesperson for Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, said his office received Dugan’s letter, and he would work to fill the vacancy without delay. Dugan wrote that over the past decade she handled thousands of cases with “a commitment to treat all persons with dignity and respect, to act justly, deliberately…

by Illia Novikov KYIV, Ukraine  — The United States is offering Ukraine security guarantees for a period of 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, though he said he would prefer an American commitment of up to 50 years to deter Russia from further attempts to seize its neighbor’s land by force. U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and insisted that Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a peace settlement. Negotiators are still searching for a breakthrough on key issues, however, including whose…

by Josh DUBOW SANTA CLARA, Calif.  — The game couldn’t have started much better for the Chicago Bears after getting a pick-6 on the first play. The ending couldn’t have been much more crushing with a potential game-winning pass from the 2-yard line falling short as the Bears couldn’t complete a record seventh late-game comeback. Caleb Williams missed on a last-ditch pass to Jahdae Walker in the end zone Sunday night, sending the Bears to a 42-38 loss to the San Francisco 49ers that cost them a chance to earn the top seed in the NFC playoffs. “It’s frustrating,” Williams…

by Chinedu Asadu ABUJA, Nigeria — The United States airstrikes that targeted Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria’s on Thursday marked a major escalation in an offensive that Nigeria’s overstretched military has struggled with for years. U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that the “powerful and deadly” strikes in Sokoto state were carried out against Islamic State militants “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.” Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north. Nigeria, which is battling multiple armed groups, said…

by Will Weissert WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. launched a “powerful and deadly” strike against Islamic State forces in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African country’s government of failing to rein in the persecution of Christians. In a Christmas evening post on his social media site, Trump did not provide details or mention the extent of the damage caused by the strikes. A Defense Department official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss details not made public, said the U.S. worked with Nigeria to carry out the strikes, and that…